Feminine hygiene articles for collecting bodily fluids and other excretions from the pudental region of the feminine anatomy have been commercially proposed for many years. Feminine hygiene articles such as tampons or menstruating pads have originally been used for collecting excretions such as menses during the menstruating period. Articles commonly designated as pantiliners have also been proposed with the aim to provide protection of the wearer's undergarment from lighter soiling, for example at the beginning or the end of the menstruating period when the flow is lighter or even outside the menstruating period, for example to absorb daily vaginal discharge or slight urine leak.
Pantiliners normally require a lesser absorbency capacity than other absorbent products, mainly because they have to deal with lesser amount of fluid than purely menstrual absorbent articles or adult incontinence products. Pantiliners are therefore normally thinner compared to other absorbent articles such as sanitary pads. Some pantiliners are of a relatively simple construction, including a topsheet, an absorbent core and a backsheet. More complicated and costly constructions including further layers have been proposed, for example including a secondary topsheet and/or a secondary backsheet.
Absorbent articles having a core substantially smaller than the topsheet have been commercially proposed. For example the Procter & Gamble Company markets a pantiliner under the tradename Discreet® which has an oval shaped core within a generally “dog-bone” shaped article.
WO2004/00618A1 discloses an absorbent article having a graphic visible through the body contacting surface of the article. The graphic is printed either on the body facing surface of the garment contacting layer or on the garment facing surface of the body contacting layer.
Side leakage, i.e. the leakage of previously absorbed liquid through the side edges of the core of the articles, is a common problem in the field of feminine hygiene articles. Attempts have been made in the past to solve or mitigate this problem, in particular by providing physical barriers to the progression of the liquid in the outward direction, see for example WO2004/060242A1. However, these systems add costs and have not been widely adopted. It is therefore common for the users to check from time to time the progression of the absorbed fluid within the article and replace the article by a new one when the absorbed liquid is approaching the edges of the absorbent core.
However, it was found that it can be difficult for the user to determine where the limit of the core lay within the envelope formed by the backsheet and topsheet for the articles discussed above, where the surface of the core is smaller than the overall surface of the article, and in particular for these articles where the core itself is very thin. These conditions may create the problem that the user can no longer easily determine when the maximum capacity of the absorbent core is approached and therefore may not change the article before side leakage occurs. This may be an acute problem for thin articles which have a smaller absorbent capacity than other products. Alternatively, the user may also be induced to change the article prematurely, in fear that the liquid may be approaching one of the edges of the core.
There is therefore a need for feminine hygiene articles which are discrete, relatively cheap to manufacture and still have good fluid handling capacity. Such articles should also allow the consumer to detect when the absorbed liquid is approaching the edges of the core.